Observation Reports

Todd's Amateur Astronomical Observations

Observation Reports

All times shown are Eastern Standard Time (with adjustment for Daylight Savings Time during appropriate months) in 24-hour clock format. In parenthesis is how long it took to perform the observation. Sketches are first drawn at the eyepiece/binoculars, then (in later observations, at least) resketched inside at a desk to make it look a bit better. Then, the colors are inverted. In some cases, other GIMP processing may be done (e.g. to fix the color of a star or brighten stars and/or darken the background).

Name:	Todd Vance	M45
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:00:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M45
Object:	Pleiades
Constellation:	Taurus
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Beautiful open cluster, no nebulosity visible in binoculars from here. Moon a day or so from new. Low in western sky, away from Baltimore glow. Galileo had more stars in the string (of four) than I have—he had 9.

Name:	Todd Vance	M37
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:50:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M37
Object:
Constellation:	Auriga
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Looked like a dimple in the sky...barely visible.

Name:	Todd Vance	M36
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:51:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M36
Object:
Constellation:	Auriga
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Dimple in the sky, no stars visible in cluster.

Name:	Todd Vance	M38
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:52:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M38
Object:
Constellation:	Auriga
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Dimple in the sky; no stars visible in cluster. Part of “Christmas Tree” asterism.

Name:	Todd Vance	M42
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:53:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M42
Object:	Great Nebula in Orion
Constellation:	Orion
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Beautiful bluish-white nebula. Sword, which looks like three stars to my unaided eye, is three pairs of doubles (optical doubles perhaps).

Name:	Todd Vance	M35
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:57:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M35
Object:
Constellation:	Gemini
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Four stars visible, surrounded by faint nebulosity.

Name:	Todd Vance	M44
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-04-01
Date:	20:01:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.0
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M44
Object:	Praesepe or Beehive
Constellation:	Cancer
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Appears to be buzzing with bees, which surround a “honeycomb”--pentagon formed by a square and a (optical) double star “peak”. Saturn was in this view (and I think I just barely saw the rings). I chose the field of view containing Saturn and the two Asseli from Cancer so I could find it again and again as I plotted the stars.

Name:	Todd Vance	Mel 111
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-04-09
Date:	22:10:00 (12 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	Mel 111
Object:	Coma star cluster
Constellation:	Coma Berenices
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: I could just barely see HIP60582 (Mag 8.09) yet did not detect HIP 60976(Mag. 7.84) so magnitude limit in binoculars was between 7.5 and 8, say 7.75. I used Starry Night Pro version 5.8 to find names of stars in field. I estimated seeing/transparency from this view. A satellite passed through below center of the field. Magnitude was around 4 or 5. No match on www.heavens-above.com. The moon was full, to approximately SSE, causing the sky to glow on this side of the field. The optical double 17 Comae Berenices (Mag. 5.28) and HIP60891 (Mag. 6.62) has seperation 2'25”. It is not a true double—they are 12.84 light years apart.

Name:	Todd Vance	M13
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-04-18
Date:	22:22:00 (13 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M13
Object:	Hercules Cluster
Constellation:	Hercules
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: M13 appears to be a hazy patch in Hercules, 1 sky arc minute in diameter. Moon has not risen, so that made it easier to spot. By defocussing the binoculars a little, I made other stars in the field the same size as M13, and picked one of similar brightness (circled). The star I picked turned out to be HIP81911 of magnitude 6.0. To check my estimate, M13's "official" magnitude is 7.0 (all magnitudes and other info from Starry Night Pro 5.8.2). It is easy to find again and again--find Hercules, find the "keystone" of Hercules. The top (roughtly NW) two stars are on each side of M13. M13 is collinear with them, about 1/3 of the way from the left one to the right one. Then, in binoculars, I find a triangle about the size of a full moon, maybe a little smaller. Two stars are HIP81848 (mag. 6.84) and HIP81673 (mag. 7.28)--M13 is at the obtuse (about 100 degrees) angle; it is almost isosceles. They disappeared when I defocussed, so I took them to be less bright than M13. M13 appeared to be a white fuzzy patch with a noticeably bright center. None of its stars could be resolved.

Name:	Todd Vance	M92
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-03
Date:	23:01:00 (12 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M92
Object:
Constellation:	Hercules
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: 8 stars in Corona Borealis (down to mag. 4.96) visible, 12 in Boötes (kite plus pipe). The first quarter moon was behind me. In binoculars, limiting magnitude around M92 was about 8.5. M92 was a dim white fuzzy patch with a brighter white star-like nucleus. By defocussing, its magnitude seemed about the same as the circled star, HIP83593, mag. 6.43. Starry Night, however, claims M92 has magnitude 7.5. It can be found by looking at the left (northern) edge of the Hercules keystone (e and p Herculis). Let that be the base of an almost-equilateral triangle with the vertex moved p-ward slightly. That vertex is M92. In addition, p and i Herculis (dragon-ward hand) form a nearly-isosceles right triangle with M92 at the vertex (M92 is slightly closer to i than p).

**M57** *Ring Nebula*
Name:	Todd Vance	M57
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-06-10
Date:	23:24:00 (9 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M57
Object:	Ring Nebula
Constellation:	Lyra
Instrument:	Celestron C6-R 150mm f/8 refractor with 9x50 5.8° field of view finder
Power:	80x
Description: Fuzzy white donut with prominent hole in center of field. All stars seemed white or gray. To find, aim scope at Vega first. In the finder, Vega is very bright and a pair of stars, one a double, are nearby. Move toward the one not a double. A third prominent star can then be seen. The nondouble and the third form one side of a parallelogram of bright stars. Move away from Vega perpendicular to that line to find the opposite side with two bright stars, and a dimmer one ¼ the way across the line. The ring nebula is right at the midpoint of the line. Center the finder there and, if the finder is aligned well, the ring nebula is in the field of a low-power (30x, 40mm plössl in my case) eyepiece. It appears as a fuzzy ring, the hole possibly not evident. Center it before using higher power. At 200x (6mm plössl) it was too dim to work with, though it nearly filled the field of view.

**M31** *Andromeda Galaxy*
Name:	Todd Vance	M31
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-09
Date:	01:37:00 (6 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	3.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M31
Object:	Andromeda Galaxy
Constellation:	Andromeda
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Bright nucleus that looked like a globular cluster but elliptical in the NNE-SSW direction, medium bright elliptical haze surrounding it tilted a little counterclockwise from the nucleus, and with averted vision, very faint vertically-thin “mustache” haze trailing off. Total length, including averted vision portion, almost a degree. Everything was white or light gray except one yellow star (ν Andromedae). Tree branches obscured the area south and southeast of the galaxy. M110 and M32 were not detected. I also tried but failed to detect M31 with the naked eye. To find it, first I found Schedar (α Cassiopeiae) which forms a “V” with γ and Caph (β). The vertex of the V points the way—I pass a prominent grouping of stars, and continue past three stars in an obtuse triangle until I find three stars almost in the line I am traveling (ο, HIP3478, and π). This line points the way exactly (the “V” only being approximate). I continue, cross a line of stars perpendicular to the three I just visited, and on the other side of that line (same distance as the three stars) is M31.

M4 *Cat's Eye Globular Cluster*
Name:	Todd Vance	M4
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-16
Date:	22:01:00 (17 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M4
Object:	Cat's Eye Globular Cluster
Constellation:
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: The night was exceptionally clear for the Baltimore-Washington metro area—all of the little dipper was visible, though Jupiter, for example, boiled under high magnification. The Sadr-centered field of view in binoculars had a very large, hard to count number of stars visible. Still, I had to wait till 10pm for M4 to rise high enough above the Baltimore glow to become visible. It was very faint, but appeared somewhat elliptical, major axis parallel to the 1 o'clock to 7 o'clock line.

**M11** *Wild Duck Cluster*
Name:	Todd Vance	M11
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-08-12
Date:	00:16:00 (7 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	3.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M11
Object:	Wild Duck Cluster
Constellation:	Scutum
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Moon was like a searchlight shining on me. Trees in my yard were a problem—I found a spot in which the field of view was just visible between the tops of two different trees, and M11 disappeared behind some of the leaves while I was observing, forcing me to move my chair a foot or two. Visibility wasn't all that good—there were scattered clouds, and though this is peak time for Perseids, I saw no meteors after 30 minutes of observation. Despite less-than-optimal conditions, M11 was bright and, once spotted, was hard to miss. I needed a clear enough night to find the tail of Aquila (I tried to find M11 another night, but not being able to see the tail with the naked eye and not being sure which binocular stars were the tail, I never found it). It was easy to make out the “V” shape of the open cluster, as well as something next to it (below it in the field of view drawing), probably HIP92507 (mag. 8.46). I drew it fuzzy thinking it was part of the cluster, and it was faint enough to look a bit nebulous. The bright stars at 10 O'Clock and 3 O'Clock are 12 Aquilae and Beta Scuti, respectively.

Name:	Todd Vance	M10
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-16
Date:	22:49:00 (18 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M10
Object:
Constellation:	Ophiuchus
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Could see stars down to Lambda (mag. 4.40) in Serpens Caput with the naked eye. Starfield was fairly sparse (especially as compared to the nearby Serpens Caput's head). I centered the field of view on three close dim stars in a right-triangle shape. I found the field of view by pointing the binoculars at the naked-eye star Han (Mag. 2.53) and moving to the left two fields to find two bright binocular stars (at the bottom of the drawing below) 23 and 30 Ophiuchi (mag. 5.21 and 4.81). M10 was found above 30, a little to the right, to from a 5-12-13 right triangle with 23 and 30. Globular was diffuse and dim, no visible nucleus. The two bright stars at the very top are close to M12 (not drawn, just outside field of view) which looks about the same as M10 in binoculars. At 22:57, a meteor passed through the field of view (drawn). It took about one second, much faster than an airplane or low-earth-orbit satellite. It brightened twice (both times to magnitude around 4, from magnitude about 6) as it passed through. There was no visible trail. It was white. After I finished drawing the field of view, I scanned somewhat randomly with binoculars and caught another meteor in nearby Corona Borealis at 23:08, moving roughly the same direction, passing through the field of view in less than a second, and brightening once, leaving a faint and very short lived trail one degree behind it. These might be Epsilon Aquilids.

Name:	Todd Vance	M51
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-20
Date:	21:53:00 (3 minutes)
Seeing:	7
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M51
Object:	Whirlpool Galaxy
Constellation:	Canes Venatici
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Sky was clear and dark at the zenith near M51 and Ursa Major. Alcor, the optical “companion” to Mizar, the middle star of the handle of the big dipper, was just visible to the naked eye with averted vision. Some fifth-magnitude stars could be seen. M51 was a patch of haze, just visible. With averted vision, a brighter nucleus was detectable. It appeared elliptical, but the companion galaxy was not resolved separately. It is easy to find in binoculars: first, aim at the end star of the big dipper (Alkaid). Move the binoculars in the general direction of Cor Coroli (or Denebola on the lion's tail) about one field. An asterism I think of as the “tropical punch” is visible, complete with tiny umbrella to shield the drink from the “sun” of Alkaid. 24 Canes Venaticorum forms one top edge of the glass nearest the umbrella. Then, M51 is at the bottom of the glass, forming roughly a 5-12-13 right triangle with the two stars making the bottom (HIP 66004 and HIP 65768).

Name:	Todd Vance	M12
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-21
Date:	22:54:00 (19 minutes)
Seeing:	8
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M12
Object:	Gumball Cluster
Constellation:	Ophiuchus
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: M12 is a faint hazy patch with detectable nucleus found by aiming binoculars at the field containing Yed Posterior and the diamond belt-buckle asterism containing Upsilon Ophiuchi. Then move to the left, perpendicular to the line from Yed to the belt, two binocular fields to find a pair of stars, HIP 82405 (mag. 6.31) and HIP 82527 (mag. 6.93). M12 is just above this pair of stars. A magnitude four or so meteor (line with arrow) went through the field of view eastward at 23:07.

Name:	Todd Vance	M81
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-22
Date:	22:06:00 (23 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M81
Object:	Bodes Galaxy (cf M82)
Constellation:	Ursa Major
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Both M81 and M82 were very faint, hard to detect visually. M82 was fainter than M81. M81 was close enough to another star I at first mistook it for a double star with the nebulosity sometimes seen on double stars. It appeared to be a faint elliptical smudge with a star-like nuclei. In the sketch, the view is centered on HIP48803. At 22:15, a satellite passed through the field of view (shown). To find this field in binoculars, aim at the top of the bear's nose (23 UMa, mag. 3.62) and move outward (North) along a line perpendicular to the line formed from the other two stars of the bear's nose (Upsilon, mag. 3.75, and Omicron, mag. 3.34). Pass a quadralateral of stars (a bright triangle means you are too far west), and arrive at a pentagon that looks vaguely like a smiley face. Continue on the line to find a boomerang shape with west end at 24 UMa, mag. 4.53, and the galaxies are to the east. (CF M82)

Name:	Todd Vance	M82
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-22
Date:	22:06:00 (23 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M82
Object:	Cigar Galaxy (cf M81)
Constellation:	Ursa Major
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Both were very faint, hard to detect visually. M82 was fainter than M81. I drew M81 before finding M82 in the same field. M82 appeared to be a faint elliptical smudge with a star-like nucleus. In the sketch, the view is centered on HIP48803. At 22:15, a satellite passed through the field of view (shown). To find this field in binoculars, aim at the top of the bear's nose (23 UMa, mag. 3.62) and move outward (North) along a line perpendicular to the line formed from the other two stars of the bear's nose (Upsilon, mag. 3.75, and Omicron, mag. 3.34). Pass a quadralateral of stars (a bright triangle means you are too far west), and arrive at a pentagon that looks vaguely like a smiley face. Continue on the line to find a boomerang shape with west end at 24 UMa, mag. 4.53, and the galaxies are to the east. CF M81.

Name:	Todd Vance	M29
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-06-29
Date:	23:13:00 (27 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M29
Object:
Constellation:	Cygnus
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: A few scattered clouds, could see but not split Epsilon Lyrae with the naked eye. Sadr (Gamma Cygni, the crosspiece star of the Northern Cross), the brightest star to the north, is slightly yellow and was very spikey in the field of view. Milky way nebulosity could be seen through the binoculars in this area—the haze drawn is where it seemed most prominent (it seemed to form a ring around Sadr, but this likely was because Sadr's glare made it invisible in its vicinity). It seemed to fork, moving southwest of Sadr, with a fork going west, and a fork going south. The west fork split again past the center of the field of view. It actually looked like numerous fuzzy globs—perhaps it would have been better to draw it that way, using some sketching analog to painting with crumpled tissue. In the center is an asterism (marked in the sketch) that looks like a very tiny dipper—the bright star in the bowl is 34 Cygni. Just east of it is M29, which looked to me like a faint pair of stars with faint nebulosity. In reality, M29 is an open cluster—the faintest stars could not be resolved in binoculars, so they appeared as nebulosity. It has two seperated groupings of bright stars—these are probably what appeared to be two stars. Just east of M29 is an optical double. This and the dipper could help one find M29 in a telescope. I quit before I drew all the stars, as the angle I was looking seemed to put me in an uncomfortable position and I was getting restless. I did draw a lot of the stars surrounding Sadr, as can be seen.

Name:	Todd Vance	M27
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-16
Date:	23:10:00 (8 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M27
Object:	Dumbbell Nebula
Constellation:	Vulpecula
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: The night was exceptionally clear for the Baltimore-Washington metro area—Delphinus and Sagitta were visible to the naked eye, as was one star of Vulpecula. The Sadr-centered field of view in binoculars had a very large, hard to count number of stars visible. The North America nebula could be (just) picked out in binoculars. It was a faint gray-white nebulosity, with an hourglass shape just detectable parallel to the 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock line. It could be found by aiming one-fifth of the way from Gamma Sagittae to Sadr.

Name:	Todd Vance	M56
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-16
Date:	23:30:00 (5 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M56
Object:
Constellation:	Lyra
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Faint globular, easy to find as it was about halfway between Sulafat (Gamma Lyrae) and Albireo. No structure detectable, just a faint fuzzy spot.

Name:	Todd Vance	M71
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-16
Date:	23:40:00 (5 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M71
Object:
Constellation:	Sagitta
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Faint fuzzy spot in Sagitta, forming a short (120 degree vertex) isosceles triangle with Gamma and Zeta Sagittae.

Name:	Todd Vance	M52
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-17
Date:	23:56:00 (10 minutes)
Seeing:	6
Transparency:	4.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M52
Object:	The Scorpion
Constellation:	Cassiopeia
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Faint nebulosity with two stars visible. Cassiopeia was low in the sky and partly in the haze and Bowie skyglow.

Todd's Amateur Astronomical Observations

Observation Reports

73 observations.

M45 Pleiades

M45

M37

M37

M36

M36

M38

M38

M42 Great Nebula in Orion

M42

M35

M35

M44 Praesepe or Beehive

M44

Mel 111 Coma star cluster

Mel 111

M13 Hercules Cluster

M13

M3

M3

M5

M5

Mel 111 Coma star cluster

Mel 111

M92

M92

M10

M10

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

M51

M12 Gumball Cluster

M12

M81 Bodes Galaxy (cf M82)

M81

M82 Cigar Galaxy (cf M81)

M82

M57 Ring Nebula

M57

M57 Ring Nebula

M57

M13 Hercules Cluster

M13

M29

M29

M31 Andromeda Galaxy

M31

M4 Cat's Eye Globular Cluster

M4

M27 Dumbbell Nebula

M27

M56

M56

M71

M71

M52 The Scorpion

M52

M39

M39

M103

M103

M15 Pegasus Cluster

M15

M15 Pegasus Cluster

M15

M2

M2

M31 Andromeda Galaxy

M31

M11 Wild Duck Cluster

M11

M26

M26

M16 Eagle Nebula

M16

M17 Omega Nebula

M17

M18 Black Swan

Name:	Todd Vance	M39
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-23
Date:	22:32:00 (5 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M39
Object:
Constellation:	Cygnus
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Spray of stars a degree or two in diameter, north of Deneb. Three stars were prominent, and the rest seemed to be “background” stars. The night was exceptionally clear for the Baltimore-Washington metro area—all of the little dipper was visible, though Jupiter, for example, boiled under high magnification. The Sadr-centered field of view in binoculars had a very large, hard to count number of stars visible.

Name:	Todd Vance	M103
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-25
Date:	00:41:00 (10 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	3.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M103
Object:
Constellation:	Cassiopeia
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Haze came in and out—at times, magnitude 3.43 star η Cassiopeiae was visible, but never for more than an instant. The star in the center Ruchbah (δ) was brilliant white but had the faint bluish tint associated with fluorescent lamps. The star χ appeared orangish. All other stars were white or light gray. The moon was almost full, but behind me. M103 is an open cluster ENE of Ruchbah, but only three stars with apparent nebulosity could be seen. The nebulosity made it look like a hazy hyphen from NNW to SSE. I took this opportunity to check (again) my binocular field of view (advertised at 305 feet per thousand yards, which translates to 5.8 degrees). I could not put η and Caph (β) in the field of view together, but I could almost do so. The angular distance between eta and Caph is 5.3786 degrees. Thus, the true field of view of my binoculars is 5.3 degrees.

Name:	Todd Vance	M15
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-08-02
Date:	22:00:00 (7 minutes)
Seeing:	6
Transparency:	3.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M15
Object:	Pegasus Cluster
Constellation:	Pagasus
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Very faint, low in the haze. To find it, I went to easily-visible Altair, then to Delphinus, which tonight was just detectable as a bright spot in the haze, then down to Equuleus (only visible in binoculars—easy to recognize with double star at top left, single at top right, bright at bottom right, dim at bottom left), and then used the top two stars of Equuleus as pointers to Enif (just visible with naked eye with averted vision, but off and on) which was orange in the haze (out of the sketched field, to the bottom), and then one binocular field upward (toward Albireo) to get to the Magnitude 6.09 star HIP106243. The globular cluster M15 was barely visible, and then only momentarily. It seemed slightly elongated in the north-south direction.

Name:	Todd Vance	M26
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-08-12
Date:	21:28:00 (11 minutes)
Seeing:	8
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M26
Object:
Constellation:	Scutum
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Moon hadn't risen yet. Exceptional night with Milky Way just visible. To see objects in this direction, I had to be in my front yard looking over my house and the trees behind it. This had the disadvantage of streetlights and car headlights, as well as neighbors' entry lights. Still, the objects I looked at tonight were bright enough to show through. M26 appeared to be a wedge, with a few stars just resolvable.

Name:	Todd Vance	M16
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-08-12
Date:	21:45:00 (8 minutes)
Seeing:	8
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M16
Object:	Eagle Nebula
Constellation:	Serpens (Cauda)
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Moon hadn't risen yet. Exceptional night with Milky Way just visible. To see objects in this direction, I had to be in my front yard looking over my house and the trees behind it. This had the disadvantage of streetlights and car headlights, as well as neighbors' entry lights. Still, the objects I looked at tonight were bright enough to show through. At 21:48, my next-door neigbor's motion sensor lights came on—I soon realized my own motions were triggering them. M16 shares the field of view with M17 (c.f. M17 observation). M16 is on top—rectangular with four stars resolved, one brighter than the other three.

Name:	Todd Vance	M17
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-08-12
Date:	21:45:00 (8 minutes)
Seeing:	8
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M17
Object:	Omega Nebula
Constellation:	Sagittarius
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Moon hadn't risen yet. Exceptional night with Milky Way just visible. To see objects in this direction, I had to be in my front yard looking over my house and the trees behind it. This had the disadvantage of streetlights and car headlights, as well as neighbors' entry lights. Still, the objects I looked at tonight were bright enough to show through. At 21:48, my next-door neigbor's motion sensor lights came on—I soon realized my own motions were triggering them. M17 shares the field of view with M16 (c.f. M16 observation). M17 is on the bottom, an upside-down delta shape.

Name:	Todd Vance	M18
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-08-12
Date:	21:55:00 (4 minutes)
Seeing:	8
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M18
Object:	Black Swan
Constellation:	Sagittarius
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Moon hadn't risen yet. Exceptional night with Milky Way just visible. To see objects in this direction, I had to be in my front yard looking over my house and the trees behind it. This had the disadvantage of streetlights and car headlights, as well as neighbors' entry lights. Still, the objects I looked at tonight were bright enough to show through. My next-door neigbor's motion sensor lights were on throughout this observation. M18 shares the field of view with M17 (c.f. M17 observation). M18 is the lower of the two, in the center of the field of view. M18 appeared to be a dim triangle with three stars resolved.

Name:	Todd Vance	M24
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-08-12
Date:	22:01:00 (5 minutes)
Seeing:	8
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M24
Object:	Small Sagittarius Star Cloud
Constellation:	Sagittarius
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Moon hadn't risen yet. Exceptional night with Milky Way just visible. To see objects in this direction, I had to be in my front yard looking over my house and the trees behind it. This had the disadvantage of streetlights and car headlights, as well as neighbors' entry lights. Still, the objects I looked at tonight were bright enough to show through. My next-door neigbor's motion sensor lights were on throughout this observation. M24 was roughly elliptical, football-shaped, with nebulosity going through it diagonally, with some nebulosity along the bottom edge of the football too. It is not a true cluster, but the "starcloud" is a "window" in the dust lanes of the Milky Way, giving us a direct view of the next spiral arm over, the Sagittarius Arm. A similar window to the south, the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud, is a window onto a portion of the galactic core.

Name:	Todd Vance	M25
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-08-12
Date:	22:07:00 (3 minutes)
Seeing:	8
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M25
Object:
Constellation:	Sagittarius
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Moon hadn't risen yet. Exceptional night with Milky Way just visible. To see objects in this direction, I had to be in my front yard looking over my house and the trees behind it. This had the disadvantage of streetlights and car headlights, as well as neighbors' entry lights. Still, the objects I looked at tonight were bright enough to show through. My next-door neigbor's motion sensor lights were on throughout this observation. M25 was somewhat reminiscent of a tiny Orion, with three bright stars along the median. There seemed to be nebulosity, but it was likely an illusion caused by so many resolved stars close together.

Name:	Todd Vance	M20
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-08-16
Date:	21:47:00 (9 minutes)
Seeing:	8
Transparency:	4.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M20
Object:	Triffid Nebula
Constellation:	Sagittarius
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Moon hadn't risen yet. Good night for viewing. To see objects in this direction, I had to be in my front yard looking over my house and the trees behind it. This had the disadvantage of streetlights and car headlights, as well as neighbors' entry lights. Still, the objects I looked at tonight were bright enough to show through. My next-door neighbor's motion sensor lights were on only a few minutes this night, happily. Sagittarius is a great place to find Messier objects, except for being in a hard-to-view section of the sky where I live. Triffid Nebula M20 appeared to be a nebula with a star in it, and a star above it. The nebula was somewhat brighter on the lateral edges, giving it a Delta shape. Open cluster M21 looked like a double star surrounded by nebulosity, and the nebulosity seemed to stick out a little in the north and south directions. I also sketched nebulosity around an optical double closer to the center of the field of view. This might or might not be SH2-34. c.f. M21 (see also M8).